Tu as dit à Paul de venir? --> Oui, je le lui ai dit. Mais pourquoi?

Question

Tu as dit à Paul de venir? --> Oui, je le lui ai dit.

Did you tell Paul to come? --> Yes, I told him to. or Yes, I told it to him?

So the direct object pronoun stands in for "de venir," but that's an infinitive w/ "de." So why isn't it "en" or just nothing?

because en is not used with dire like that. It's used with parler because parler is followed by à and then de. To use EN, you need a verb followed by à: parler à quelqu'en de quelque chose. en parler à quelqu'un. To talk to someone about something. The de is what causes the EN. — Lambie, Apr 25 '17 at 18:36

jlliagre · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-25 19:54:20Z

7

Le is used here because the antecedent is a verb. Not using it is possible and likely the most frequent usage:

— Tu as dit à Paul de venir ?

— Oui, je le lui ai dit.

— Oui, je lui ai dit.

En would have been used in reply to that question where the antecedent is a noun:

— Tu as parlé à Paul de sa venue ?

— Oui, je lui en ai parlé.

answered Apr 25 '17 at 7:13

jlliagre

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